Players and umpires alike were generous in their praise for the condition of the Mandan diamonds on Saturday morning.

Friday night's storm dumped up to twoinches of rain on Bismarck-Mandan, resulting in the postponement of several games. That, in turn, required a 6 a.m. round of play to get the McQuade Softball Tournament back on schedule.

"We played at 6 a.m. and lost in nine innings," said ValleyCaptain's Pub manager JustinHorsager, whose team was originally scheduled to play Friday evening. "We got here just before six and the diamonds looked pretty good."

A lot of man hours went into making the diamonds playable.

"There were eight of us here at 2 a.m. today," said Robert Schafer, a member of Mandan's diamond maintenance crew. "We had to pump three of the diamonds, we used Diamond Dry on all of them and pillows on a few of them."

"Pillows" are oversized sponges used to sop up standing water.

Schafer said the McQuade makes for long hours, all the more so when rain intervenes.

"We went home at 10 last night and came back at 2 a.m.,"Schafer said. "We'll work until about 10 or 11 tonight and come back at 5 a.m. tomorrow. It's a lot of hours, but that's what you sign up for."

"And it's worth it to see these guys playing, Schafer added, glancing over his shoulder at the start of a game on Diamond 10.

Dust-Tex in final

Dust-Tex of Mandan had quite a season in 2008, winning a pair of ASA national championships.

Today, the team will go after a McQuade championship in the Masters 50 division. Dust-Tex defeated Mandan North Dakota Indian Gaming Association 20-3, and Mandan Capital City Construction 16-1 on Saturday to advance to the title game.

Traveling men

Several members of the NorthDakota Indian Gaming Association team rack up hundreds of summer miles to play softball.

Bob Schilling, Jerry Ohman and Rich Wales, all of Mobridge, S.D., make the drive to Mandan at least once a week to play for Indian Gaming, a men's 50-plus team. Ray Ritter of Mound City, about 20 miles northeast of Mobridge, usually makes the trip with them.

Royce Walker, Ron Walker and Virgil Tiokasin make the trip from McLaughlin, S.D., to play with the team.

Ohman estimated the distance from Mobridge to Mandan at about 115 miles and McLaughlin at about 85.

He said the drive is worthwhile because there are no 50-plus teams in the Mobridge area. "You get tired of trying to compete with 19-year-olds," he said.

Not superstitious

Slowpitch players are known for certain superstitions, but they evidently don't subscribe to triskaidekaphobia.

There's no shortage at all of players wearing the uniform No. 13.

They include:

Travis Collins of BismarckDietz painting: "I grabbed it out of the pile. I was No. 18 before someone took it."

RyanEngels of Watertown,S.D., U.S.Water Services: "That's my number in softball and (auto) racing. … My birthday is on the first, my wife (Jennifer) has her birthday on the third and we got married on the 13th."

Scott Picard of Fargo First Class Mortgage:"It's been my number since I've been 18 years old. … Ithink I wore No. 13 in baseball because Dan Marino wore 13."

JustinHorsager of Valley City Captain's Pub: "Two other guys want to wear No. 13 but I'm the manager."

Jerry Ohman of North Dakota Indian Gaming: "My wife's birthday is the 13th of September and my mom and dad got married on the 13th. My son plays softball, too, and he wears 13."